Only Natural

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Branch

Momoshiro and Echizen tease and support each other through three more years of tennis. The Momoshiro/Ryouma arc, in which Momo is a huge squish.

Ink Burns

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

This is a work of fanfiction, produced according to the principles of transformative fair use as put forward in US copyright law, and abiding by the custom and practice of fan-produced work in Japan, where the source texts were created. No author is in any way affiliated with any of the creators of the source texts, nor with the companies who distribute their products, nor any other rights holder, and these stories were not authorized by either the creators or the producers. Ink Burns is a fan site and the material here is freely provided for the enjoyment of fellow fan-community members; there is no commercial infringement.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 US license at the Ink Burns fanfiction archive (http://www.branchandroot.net/archive/).

"Relay" published on 2004-08-09 18:12:30.

"Simple" published on 2004-08-10 18:19:59.

"Twist" published on 2004-08-14 18:25:43.

"Ripple" published on 2004-08-16 18:31:52.

"Fence" published on 2004-08-19 18:40:47.

"Puzzle" published on 2004-08-24 18:45:23.

"Confluence" published on 2004-08-25 18:04:01.

Attributions can be made by author's name and a link to the archive.

This ebook edition was published on September 6, 2019 by the Ink Burns fanfiction archive.

Cover illustration is "Autumn Morning" by Grigoriy Myasoedov, public domain (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myasoedov_Autumn_Morning.jpg).

Cover design by Branch.

Relay

After the third-years graduate, how do those who remain adjust? Drama, I-2

Ryouma didn't exactly mind that Nationals were over. After all, they had won. He did, however, mind that the third years were retiring from the tennis club. How was he supposed to beat all his senpai if they weren't around to play against?

On the other hand, in the midst of the day's goodbyes, and team bonding, and dodging Kikumaru-senpai, he had wandered across Tezuka-buchou explaining Momo's new duties to him, and that was good for a laugh.

A silent laugh, so Tezuka-buchou wouldn't send him away.

"...and, of course, the assignments for the ranking matches," Tezuka-buchou finished. "It's a good idea to keep a running list of which players might balance out the blocks."

Momo looked a little dazed, and Ryouma couldn't resist needling just a little. "Sounds like the job is mostly paperwork," he noted. "Maybe it should have been Kaidou-senpai after all; he's a lot better at finishing homework on time."

His friend shot a glare over his shoulder while Ryuuzaki-sensei grinned.

"Kaidou is very conscientious," Tezuka-buchou agreed, evenly. "But Momoshiro has developed a better eye for broad strategy."

Momo blinked at this unusually direct compliment, and looked down, almost fidgeting. His embarrassment would have been another good opportunity for teasing, which would only be fair turnabout, really, but Ryouma only tugged down his cap a bit, acknowledging his captain's unspoken command to stop poking holes in the new captain's confidence.

Ryuuzaki-sensei got in the last word, though, which Ryouma supposed he should have expected.

"I wouldn't laugh too hard, Ryouma," she said, dryly. "After all, it's almost certain to be you in another year."

Ryouma choked, and stared at her, wide-eyed, as Momo snickered.

"So, Echizen," Momo called over the whir of bike wheels, "how many times a week do you think you're going to have to smack Arai's ego down?"

Ryouma made a face. Despite riding backwards and not being able to see his friend, he was sure Momo was grinning. "Inui-senpai does averages, not me."

The fact was, though, after finally making it into a regular slot in the wake of the departing third years, Arai had gotten even more annoying. And Ryouma had, in fact, stooped to deliberately showing him up a few times just to make him quiet down.

"And here I thought you had a schedule," Momo said, lightly. "It's seemed like you were taking some trouble to keep him in line the past couple weeks."

Ryouma made a noncommittal noise.

"Especially when he starts in on Kachirou," Momo added, perfectly casual.

Ryouma appreciated the sideways tact Momo used to ask him questions like this. Because, of course, the question behind Momo's comments was What are you trying to maneuver your teammates into? Momo had gotten very good at guessing what kind of things Ryouma wouldn't like to admit to out loud. He leaned against Momo's back and shrugged, knowing his friend would feel it. "We need more people who can play doubles, don't we?"

Momo was quiet for a moment. "You think Kachirou will be good enough to make it into the Regulars by spring?"

Ryouma, since he was out of sight, let himself smile at Momo's tone. It was serious and focused, the tone of a team captain asking for the opinion of one of his players before he made a decision. It was the tone that, when used in front of Kaidou-senpai, made him stop hissing and growling over what an idiot Momo was. Not, of course, that he ever did that where anyone but Momo or Ryouma was likely to hear.

"He has the ability, as long as he has the chance to work on it," Ryouma answered. "And he'll work for it." He left it unspoken that Kachirou had more of Seigaku's spirit, that way, than Arai did. He thought Momo had probably already noticed that.

"All right, we'll work on it," Momo said, decisively. "Anyone else you've got your eye on?"

"You're the captain," Ryouma pointed out. "Momo-buchou."

"Oh, knock it off," Momo growled.

Ryouma was perfectly straight-faced, as he waited for Momo to lock up.

"Long day, wasn't it?" he prodded.

"Oh, yeah, go ahead and laugh," Momo complained.

"All those new first years watching you."

"Echizen."

"Looking up to you as a role model."

"Echizen..."

"Lot of responsibility, isn't it?"

Momo turned around and glowered at him, sorting through his keys for the one to his bike chain.

"Do you wish Tezuka-buchou had picked Kaidou-senpai yet?" Ryouma finished, raising his brows inquiringly.

"If I agree to pay for food, will you shut up about this?" Momo asked, just a little plaintively.

Ryouma grinned. "Sure."

"Brat." Momo slung an arm across Ryouma's shoulders as they headed for the bike racks. Ryouma hunched them just a little, thankful that he was getting big enough not to be pulled off his feet by that maneuver anymore. Which probably made it less effective retribution, from Momo's point of view, but that was just too bad. Ryouma had always done his part of their roughhousing more subtlely, twitting Momo with jabs of words or expression. If it bugged Momo that physical retaliation couldn't keep up his end of the game anymore, he was perfectly capable of switching tactics.

Maybe that new responsibility was affecting Momo's brain, though, because he hesitated, and cocked his head at Ryouma. "Do you really mind it?" he asked, tightening his arm for a second.

Ryouma blinked and shrugged, not hard enough to dislodge the arm. "No big deal," he muttered. Certainly, it had gotten a little wearing to be pounced on by Kikumaru-senpai. But Momo was just like that, and he'd gotten used to it. Momo didn't mind that Ryouma was quiet and obnoxious, and Ryouma didn't mind that Momo was loud and obnoxious. They met in the middle, and it all worked out. He hadn't really thought it needed to be said.

"Good," Momo declared. "Didn't think so, but..." He ruffled a hand through Ryouma's hair.

Ryouma swatted the hand away, glaring. Momo grinned.

"C'mon, Echizen, food's on me," he said, airily. "Maybe we'll get lucky and there'll be something interesting on the street courts tonight."

The team was coming together, no one had broken anyone's neck, the club's fans were actually a little quieter than usual, they were into training for the tournament season, and Ryouma could feel his edge slipping.

What was even more annoying was that his dad noticed it.

It would have been less annoying that Ryuuzaki-sensei noticed, too, if she'd had anything useful to say on the subject.

"You need more competition, Ryouma, this year's team isn't strong enough to keep you moving along."

Ryouma eyed her from under his cap. "I know."

"And he's not the only one," Momo put in from where he was fishing out his water bottle. "But that's easier said than done."

Their coach gave them a half-lidded stare. "Maybe." And then she strolled away.

Momo and Ryouma looked at each other.

"What was that about?" Momo wanted to know.

Kaidou sniffed, on his way past. "Idiot," he stated, quietly.

"What?!" Momo growled, just as quietly.

Ryouma hid a smile. Positions of responsibility hadn't stopped them bickering. They just did it more softly now. Wouldn't do for the captain and vice-captain to have a screaming fight in the middle of practice. He had overheard Ryuuzaki-sensei explaining this to them very clearly after the first time they did have one, and both of them had been rubbing their ears as they emerged from that little talk.

"I'll lock up today," Kaidou-senpai said.

Momo blinked at this non sequitur, but Ryouma suddenly remembered Kaidou-senpai, last week, consulting something that looked a lot like a recently updated exercise menu in Inui-senpai's writing. He remembered thinking, just a bit enviously, that maybe Kaidou was still practicing with Inui-senpai. Ryouma almost heard his brain click as it all fell together. He eyed Momo. "Not a very long walk to the high school campus," Ryouma observed. "We should make it if we leave right after practice."

"Just a walk up the hill," Momo agreed, smiling now, apparently pleased enough to ignore Kaidou's mutter of Took you long enough.

Ryouma tipped his head and gave Kaidou's back a one-sided grin. "Thanks, Kaidou-senpai."

Kaidou-senpai waved it off, brusquely. For one instant, Ryouma dearly wished for one of Fuji-senpai's cameras, because he could have blackmailed Momo for years with a shot of the nearly affectionate look he gave his yearmate.

So Momo and Ryouma snuck off the instant practice was over, and made their way uphill. Momo's cheerful smile got them directions to the tennis courts, and Ryouma was somehow unsurprised to see Fuji-senpai, Inui-senpai and Tezuka-buchou leaning against the fence while the last of the high school tennis club left. Inui-senpai smiled an unnervingly pleased smile, and held out a hand to Fuji-senpai. Fuji-senpai silently dug in his pocket and dropped coins into Inui-senpai's palm. Then he smiled at them, too.

"That was quicker than I expected," he told them, genially.

Ryouma stifled the urge to step quickly behind Momo. He was too big for that to be really effective anymore.

"Ryuuzaki-sensei obtained permission for us to use the courts after hours," Tezuka-buchou told them without preamble.

Ryouma felt the tingle of anticipation for a good game sweep through him, and nearly sighed with relief. He hadn't felt that nearly often enough, since winter started. There was a nice glow, a relaxation into the effort, that came when he played Momo, but it didn't put sharp edges on the world and make his blood sing.

"What are we waiting for, then?" he asked.

Doubles pairs were peculiar things, Ryouma decided. He understood a little better the players who could do doubles or singles with equal facility, like Kachirou, or Ibu and Kamio. But the dedicated pairs were just weird. He could swear that he'd just finished playing two people, despite the fact that only Ohtori had stood on the court and that Shishido had barely said a word the entire game. Watching Momo gradually box in Hiyoshi, Ryouma reflected that maybe he was glad he still really didn't work very well in doubles. He didn't mind being part of a team; and there were people he didn't mind being close to, if they understood each other. But that was... understanding. Two people who were just on the same wavelength. It wasn't so... intrusive.

As they gathered up to leave, Ryouma took a look at the lemon-sucking expression on the face of Hyoutei's captain and the light of absolute determination in his eye, and his mouth quirked.

"Maybe, if we play Hyoutei again, this year, you should put Kaidou-senpai up against Hiyoshi," he suggested to Momo. "I bet they'd get along."

Momo laughed. "I'd put a little more weight on whether Kaidou can beat him than whether they get along."

"It goes together," Ryouma pointed out. "Tachibana, Atobe, Sanada, Yukimura, Tezuka-buchou—it's why they play good games against each other."

Momo looked at him rather oddly, and Ryouma raised his brows. He couldn't believe that Momo hadn't seen it; in fact, he knew Momo had seen it, because he'd commented on it before, if not quite in the same terms.

"You have a strange definition of getting along, Echizen," Momo said, at last.

Ryouma blinked and shrugged. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah. And you're right about Kaidou and Hiyoshi." Momo looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe that would work."

Ryouma nodded. He'd known Momo would understand.

Theoretically, Ryouma was doing homework over at Momo's house.

Actually, he had long since finished his own English homework, checked Momo's, and moved along to snooping in Momo's paperwork, which was a lot more interesting.

"You put us in the same block again?" he asked. "Kaidou-senpai is going to accuse you of keeping the good competition for yourself, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Momo agreed, draping himself off his bed and over Ryouma's shoulder.

Ryouma eyed him sidelong and sighed.

"What?" Momo grinned. "You did say you didn't mind."

Ryouma opened his mouth to point out that he hadn't said he didn't mind Momo taking the place of his jacket, but then closed it again. To say that would immediately invite the question of whether he really did mind, and he would then have to admit that he didn't. It was just Momo and Momo wasn't annoying like that, though he doubted he could explain why not, if pressed. Better not to say anything.

"Besides," Momo went on, more seriously, "if I put myself and Kaidou in the same block we might get careless because we're in too much of a hurry to get at each other. And this lets me put Arai and Kachirou in separate blocks, too.

Which could only be considered a good idea, Ryouma admitted. Arai had never quite gotten past his whole seniority thing.

"You know, everyone thinks it's some kind of miracle that you and Kaidou-senpai can play doubles together when you don't do anything but fight anywhere else," he mused.

Momo shrugged. "We fight enough that we know each other. I trust his strength, and he trusts my belief in it. That's all we really need."

Ryouma smiled, and glanced at his friend. "Not bad, Momo-buchou."

"Just you wait, Echizen," Momo told him, with a dark look. "Your turn's coming up, and I'm going to get my laugh in, too, before I go."

Another day, another round of paperwork. Ryouma was starting to wonder whether he could convince Ryuuzaki-sensei to make Kachirou captain next year.

Today, though, there was something of more personal interest than usual.

"Momo-senpai."

"Hm?" Momo asked, from the depths of his Science textbook.

"You're putting me in Singles One against Josuikan."

"Yep."

"You think we're going to get to Singles One, against them?"

"Nope."

"Momo," Ryouma growled, completely out of patience.

Momo looked up with a wry smile. "I know you want to play absolutely every match you possibly can, Echizen. But it isn't good for the team to always rely on you to pull their nuts out of the fire, and it isn't good for you to get into the habit of carrying too much. You should get a little bit of rest, at this point in the season."

"Rest?" Ryouma repeated, with careful disbelief.

"Yeah, rest." Momo sounded both amused and a little exasperated. "That thing you think you never need. You have to learn to pace yourself someday, you know. Not," Momo added, turning a page, "that I have any reason to think I'll be able to convince you to do it, when Tezuka-san couldn't."

Ryouma sat back, grimacing. He hated it when Momo got all reasonable on him. He supposed it was a good thing it didn't happen too often. "As if you have room to talk," he grumbled, quietly.

"Yeah, it's always hard to judge for yourself," Momo agreed, easily. "That's what we have other people for."

Ryouma gave it up. Not that he wasn't going to glower at appropriate moments, to remind Momo that he was annoyed about this. But he'd known from the start that Momo had a protective streak. The fact that it always irritated Ryouma when it was applied to him just made it the more ironic that it was a major reason he had trusted Momo immediately.

Besides, Momo had a point about the team. If Momo wanted his players to take Ryouma's example, rather than let Ryouma do all the work... well, that was how a captain should think.

Ryouma really wondered whether he could pawn the position off on someone else.

"We should..." a yawn interrupted Momo, "get going, if you want to catch Atobe at the park courts tonight."

Ryouma stayed right where he was, sprawled in the warm grass under the trees. "Up late last night?" he asked.

Momo waved a hand dismissively, and then had to use it to cover another yawn. "My sister has an earache," he admitted. "I stayed up with her, reading, when she couldn't get to sleep. Anyway," he prodded Ryouma in the ankle with a toe, "you wanted the practice against Atobe to be sure you're in good shape to take Kirihara next week. We should head out."

"No hurry," Ryouma said, folding his arms behind his head.

"You're just like that cat of yours," Momo accused, slumping back down himself. "Impossible to move once you get comfortable."

Less than ten minutes later a faint snore sounded beside Ryouma, and he smiled. He did have to suppress a start when Momo rolled over to use him as a pillow, though. He'd woken up like that, often enough, but usually he was asleep himself before they managed to sprawl into each other. Personally, Ryouma blamed buses. First they made you fall asleep, and then they made you fall over.

He pulled his bag over to make a pillow for himself. He could track down Atobe later.

"All things considered, I expect you already know how this job works," Ryuuzaki-sensei told Ryouma.

He gave her a resigned look, waiting for her to finish whatever official lecture would seal his doom.

Momo was snickering.

"Congratulations, you're captain. It's more than I ever managed to wring out of your father. Enjoy it. Or not. Now get out of here and go say your goodbyes." She waved them off.

"So," Momo said, getting his laughter under control as they moved back towards the courts, "what do I have to bribe you with to get you to keep helping me with English while I study for exams?"

After a judicious moment of consideration, Ryouma rejected the bill for food as too easy. "You have to listen to me complain about the paperwork," he decided.

"Deal," Momo agreed, instantly. "I'll stick around campus until practice is over, then; it'll make it easier if you keep riding home with me."

Ryouma eyed his friend. "Thinking of 'sticking around' the courts?" he asked, pointedly.

Momo looked a bit sheepish. "Eh, you guessed."

"Study inside, Momo-senpai," Ryouma told him. "We can practice for real up the hill."

Momo grinned at him, wryly. "Whatever you say, buchou."

Ryouma glared, and had his hair ruffled for his trouble. Still, he supposed he had earned that one. Captain. He suppressed a shudder. Should be an interesting year. He let Momo wind an arm around his shoulders and steer him back to his club.

End

Simple

A little Momoshiro introspective about how he manages to be friends with Ryouma. Drama, I-3

Momoshiro Takeshi considered himself a straightforward sort of guy. He didn't bother to hide what he thought much, and he liked the friends he made by being outgoing and cheerful. He didn't stand on formality, and if that caused certain stiff-necked classmates of his to call him an annoying idiot, well Momo knew that he gave respect where it was due and accepted it where he'd earned it, and that was good enough for him.

Which could be why he'd gotten along with Echizen Ryouma right from the start. They had very similar approaches, that way.

It was one of the more interesting things, to Momo, about their friendship. He was outgoing and outspoken, while Echizen was self-contained and sparing with his words. Momo, despite his casual ways, was really quite proper most of the time, while Echizen, despite his genuine respect for skill and accomplishment, mouthed off to absolutely everyone. And yet, somehow, they were always in the same place, always looking the same way, always knowing what the other would do.

Kachirou had mentioned, once, that it was strange Momo and Ryouma still couldn't play doubles to save their lives, since they seemed to understand and predict each other so well. Momo had replied that that wasn't enough for good doubles, especially when what they could unfailingly predict was that both of them would go for the ball no matter where it landed. Kachirou had agreed, ruefully, that Momo had a point.

In fact, the only one Momo had seen who could play doubles with Echizen was Kachirou himself. And that highlighted the difference, of course. Kachirou played as support to Echizen, and he did it well because he'd spent so long watching how Echizen played. Momo knew how Echizen played, too, but Kachirou... orbited Echizen. Ryouma was the primary in that relationship. And neither Momo nor Ryouma would ever do that for each other. For them, Momo decided, extending his astronomy metaphor, it was more like a double star, both turning around a common center. Not that determination to win generated gravity. Or, maybe it did...

An elbow in the ribs interrupted his musing.

"Momo-senpai, quit dozing off and work on the English," Echizen directed from where he was propped against Momo's back, reading his Japanese textbook.

Momo sighed. "Right, right, whatever you say. Buchou."

Ryouma reached over his head and noogied Momo.

Despite his startlement, Momo could hold back a delighted grin. Lately, Ryouma had been descending to physical retaliation, in their teasing; it was almost as good as having another little brother. Momo thought it was probably because Ryouma was afraid of losing contact, with Momo gone from the club. His sister had acted a little the same, when Momo had started junior high and wasn't in the same school with his siblings anymore. Whatever the cause, it meant that, every now and then, Momo actually won.

Thinking of his brother gave Momo an idea, and he reached around his side and crooked his fingers in Ryouma's ribs.

A stifled squeak answered, and half a second later Ryouma was on the other side of the room, plastered against the wall, glaring at him.

"You're that ticklish?" Momo asked, hugely amused.

"Of course I'm not ticklish," Ryouma snapped. Momo recognized the spinal-reflex, defensive denial, and grinned more broadly. Ryouma glowered.

"Oh, don't worry, I won't let on," Momo assured him.

Ryouma gave him a very suspicious look.

"After all, I have to keep some advantages to myself," Momo finished.

Ryouma now looked like his worst suspicions had been confirmed.

"You worry too much, Echizen," Momo told him. "C'mon, homework." He patted the floor next to where Ryouma's book had fallen.

Ryouma didn't budge a centimeter. Momo sighed a little. Looked like he'd found another gap. Most of the time, he and Ryouma could have their little brawls without worrying, because Ryouma gave as good as he got; it passed the time until they encountered an outsider they could cooperate to take down. Every now and then, though, Momo stumbled across some gap in Echizen's poise. The first one had been Karupin, and he still remembered being startled at how badly Ryouma's cool attitude had shattered when his cat was missing. Feeling the slightest bit vulnerable did not seem to be something Ryouma did with any grace whatsoever. Momo held out a hand.

"Come on, Ryouma," he said, more gently. "You know I wouldn't." Wouldn't attack his friend in a weak spot anywhere except on the court. Wouldn't deliberately hurt him.

Ryouma tucked his head down, and didn't say anything, but did come back across the room and settled down beside Momo with his book. Momo smiled, wryly, down at his friend's bent head. Not quite like having another little brother, he decided. He understood Ryouma better than he did his brother, most of the time, and Ryouma was more willing to be coaxed. Not that a single other person would believe him about that last, but it was still true. Under certain circumstances, Ryouma was also more willing to be protected. As long as Momo was casual about it, Ryouma would let Momo protect him when it came to one of those little gaps.

No, not quite like a brother.

Ryouma leaned against his shoulder, silently, and Momo leaned back, reaching for his homework again.

End

Twist

Ryouma encounters someone who jars his view of what tennis is, and has a few revelations in the aftermath, some less comfortable than others. Drama With Almost Romance, I-4

As soon as this Matsueda character had shown up at the street court, Momo had figured he was bad news. He had the contemptuous smirk of someone looking to make trouble, but he hadn't moved right away, and it was a bad sign when troublemakers stopped to think first. He'd waited, watching the other players, and finally approached Echizen for a game. Even though Echizen didn't play at speed on street courts like this, unless someone really got his goat, it was clear to Momo that Matsueda had pegged Echizen as the best player present. And, of course, the day Echizen turned down a challenge would be the day there was a blizzard in July. Momo had still disliked the look of Matsueda enough to murmur in Echizen's ear to keep an eye out, even if it did make his friend give him the raised eyebrow.

By the end of the third volley, Momo was sure there would be trouble.

When Echizen switched to his left hand at the end of the first game, Momo's jaw tightened. A whisper swept around the court; the ones who played in this area regularly knew, by now, what it meant. This challenger was good.

And he was, Momo had to admit. Not good enough to win against Momo himself, and certainly not good enough to win against Echizen. But good enough to make Echizen smile.

Normally.

Echizen wasn't smiling now.

Momo swore silently. He knew what was wrong. He'd met a few of Matsueda's kind before; even played one, once, and regretted it after. But he didn't think Echizen ever had. Oh, he'd played plenty of the crazy ones, the ones who were out of control and dangerous. Heck, he'd been on the same team with Fuji-senpai, and Momo hadn't even taken a whole year to figure out that Fuji-senpai would have been one of the crazy ones if Tezuka-buchou hadn't, somehow, steadied him.

But even the craziest had respected the game, or at least they had once Echizen was done with them. A real challenge, the chance to gain the respect of someone brilliant... that did it every time. Forged a connection in the heat and glee and craziness of the game itself. Even that lunatic Akutsu had responded to that, and it had eventually brought him back to the game once everyone had the brains to stop nagging him.

Momo remembered being concerned during that game, too, worried that the nut case Echizen was playing would cross the bounds of the game, worried how Echizen would deal with an opponent who held the game itself in contempt. But, in the end, Echizen had broken through. Echizen had seen past Akutsu's derision to the desperate, frantic desire for a real challenge underneath, and, in his own inimitable way, had kept hammering until he'd reached it. Momo remembered going from being a bit worried about Akutsu's dismissive contempt to being a little alarmed at his absolute, devouring, manic focus on Ryouma, once the game heated up. At no point had Momo really been surprised, though. Even then, he'd taken it pretty much for granted that Echizen could hold any fire barehanded, on the court.

But not this time.

This time, it was acid, not fire, and Momo didn't like to think what might happen if Echizen grasped it. There was a vicious edge to Matsueda's smile that got sharper every time he pulled out another move, pushed Echizen a little harder. A fast drop shot; a respectable smash; a sly, curving slice that came in deceptively slow. For all Matsueda's skill, though, Momo could see that the true center of his attention was elsewhere. By the end of the third game he thought Echizen had seen it too. Momo would have bet a week's tab at McDonald's that it had only taken so long because the very idea was so utterly alien. The ones he'd played who thought like that, that Momo knew about, had always been pretenders; no real talent, no challenge.

Echizen stood for a moment, before he served, staring at his opponent.

"What's the matter kid?" Matsueda called. "Getting scared?"

Echizen's hand clenched around the ball, and Momo snorted. It was probably the best thing the bastard could have said right then.

The best thing for Echizen, at least.

Echizen's mouth set hard, under the shadow of his cap, and Momo knew he had laid aside his disturbance for later. The line of his body and the flash of his eyes as he cast the ball up said that now was the time to end this.

The last games rushed by in a flare of power and finesse that left Matsueda's jaw hanging. Despite his own misgivings, Momo could help a smirk as the man slunk off at the end of the set, chased by the grins and condolences of the other players. The grin faded as he watched Echizen pack up, too. Momo zipped up his own bag and silently fell in beside his friend as Echizen left the court.

Echizen never exactly chatted, but his quiet now made Momo uncomfortable. Despite that, he didn't press for conversation; it wasn't the time. He watched Echizen as they walked, following his path without comment. They weren't exactly going in circles, but every time they went a little closer to Echizen's house, his friend managed to take the next turn in another direction. Momo was just wondering whether he should nudge Echizen toward the school and let him walk around the track until he wore himself out, when they fetched up in a playground between his house and Echizen's.

Echizen finally stood still, there, and Momo eyed him, considering whether it was time to push. A violent shudder ripped through Echizen, dropping his bag off his shoulder, and he started moving again, pacing between one hollow cement animal and another. Momo's mouth thinned.

"He didn't care," Echizen said, voice tight, spinning on his heel for another round.

"No, he didn't," Momo agreed, quietly. Ryouma whirled on him.

"How?" His eyes, even in the low light, were shadowed, wide and hurt. "How can you be any good and not care? Somehow?"

The drawn look and voice were too much for Momo, and he took the two strides forward that would bring him to Echizen, and pulled his friend close. Now he could feel just how tense Echizen was, almost shivering with it. Ryouma didn't protest, for which Momo was belatedly glad; his friend still wasn't quite as tall as Momo, but he wasn't tiny anymore, either. If he were upset enough to strike out it wouldn't have been fun. But the fact that Echizen stood still in his hold, neither stiffening nor grumbling at him, more than anything, told Momo just how upset Ryouma was. He sighed and leaned back against the climbing tower, tugging Ryouma with him. He'd known Echizen wouldn't understand it; so, how to explain?

"I asked Ryuuzaki-sensei that, after the first time I played someone like that myself," he recalled, after a bit. "She said it just happens, sometimes."

Ryouma stirred against him, and Momo heard a shadow of his usual sniff of contempt.

"She said," he continued, encouraged, "that there are two kinds of players who are bad. Bad for everyone else, dangerous to the game. One is the kind who has a whole lot of talent but no challenge. She said that those are the ones who don't respect anyone else, and do stupid or dangerous or cruel things because they're bored. Like they're trying to provoke someone into stopping them."

Echizen nodded, faintly. Momo had figured that description would ring a bell.

"The other is the kind who has talent, but only sees the game as a means to an end. Not something they enjoy for itself, just something that lets them get something else they want."

Echizen stood very, very still for a long moment.

"Like I was," he said, at last, muffled, "before Tezuka-buchou..."

Momo's arms tightened in automatic response to the blank emptiness of that usually sardonic voice. His first instinct was to deny it completely, because, damn it, he'd always seen more than that in Ryouma from the first moment they laid eyes on each other. But he hadn't spent a year as team captain without learning to face unpleasant thoughts, and he was sure that if he was anything less than totally honest right now Ryouma would ignore him entirely.

"If Tezuka-buchou hadn't gotten through to you, you might have been," he answered, carefully. "Eventually. But I can't believe you would have gone much longer, anyway, without meeting someone who could show you what else tennis could be." He puffed a little laugh against the raven-wing hair beside his cheek. "You had too much fun with it, even if you wouldn't admit it yet."

He felt, rather than heard, Ryouma's answering laugh, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"All you can do is what you did," he concluded. "Beat them fast and go on."

Echizen slumped against him, head thumping down on Momo's shoulder.

"Great," Ryouma muttered.

Momo grinned and ruffled his hair, and this time Ryouma swatted at his hand with a growl and pulled away to stand upright. Momo was impressed all over again with his friend's resilience. He'd needed a few days of not playing anyone but his teammates to get over his own encounter with tennis slime. As they collected their bags and walked on he thought the atmosphere had lightened enough to tease Echizen about having fast recovery time. Ryouma blushed and glowered at him.

"Momo-senpai..." he drawled, threateningly.

"When are you going to get a girlfriend, anyway?" Momo prodded at him, having to choke back a snicker at the shudder and grimace he got in response.

"Never!" Ryouma's response was particularly heartfelt, and Momo figured his little fanclub must have been especially shrill this week.

"Boyfriend?" Momo suggested, helpfully, and got an elbow in the ribs for his trouble. The familiar chaffing made them both smile.

"Seriously, though," he added, "I knew you could handle it. After as many of the crazy kind as you've come up against, the slime are just a nasty shock. Not a challenge." Momo shot a sidelong look of satisfaction at Echizen.

"Haven't been that many," Echizen objected with a small shrug. Momo snorted.

"Yeah? Just think for a minute about how many people you've played who fit that first description."

Echizen tucked his hands in his pockets and slouched along thoughtfully for the block that remained before the turning that would take each of them home by separate ways. Momo expected an absent good night, or possibly a smart remark about the relative sanity of tennis players. He did not expect Echizen to stop short at the intersection, and stand as if turned to stone. Momo, looking over in surprise, caught a haunted, sick expression on Ryouma's face before he shuttered it.

"Echizen?" he asked, startled. Ryouma swallowed twice.

"I don't want to go home yet," he whispered at last, turning sharply away from his street.

Calculations cascaded through Momo's mind, starting with just how long someone in Echizen's excellent shape could stay up, walking, if he decided to; touching on the number of times he'd seen emotion that open from Ryouma, a very small figure; and finishing with the best way to actually get some sleep while not leaving his friend alone with whatever thought had hit him so hard.

"You can come home with me, if you want," he offered.

Ryouma blinked up at him, and Momo gave him a half-smile in reply, turning toward his own street.

"Come on," he directed. As he'd hoped, the peremptory tone broke Echizen out of his paralysis, and if his friend gave him a dark look he still came along. They were about half way there when Momo remembered that his sister had friends over to stay, this being Saturday, and wondered whether they had left so much as a spare blanket, let alone a spare futon.

They hadn't.

There was one extra pillow sitting, lonely, on the shelf of the linen closet. It was, Momo reflected with some resignation, better than a bus provided and he and Echizen had managed to nap on plenty of those. Echizen barely seemed to notice, accepting the t-shirt Momo offered and climbing into bed, when Momo scooted over to make room, with a somewhat abstract look on his face. When Momo turned on his side to give them both a little more kicking space, Ryouma turned his head on the pillow and gazed at him for a long moment. The large, dark eyes seemed to swallow what little light was in the room and Momo laid a hand on Ryouma's shoulder, questioning. Ryouma grunted and turned over too, putting his back to Momo.

Momo smiled and let his hand stay on his friend's shoulder as they settled down to sleep.

He woke, slightly disoriented, when sunrise speared light through the blinds he hadn't closed all the way. It took several seconds to pin down the cause of the disorientation. He remembered right away that Ryouma was next to him. He wasn't in quite the same place, however.

Ryouma had, in fact, turned over, managing to steal most of the covers, and burrowed against Momo's chest. He had also managed to throw an arm over Momo's ribs without in any way compromising his possession of the blanket. Momo snorted, and let himself drift back to sleep. He knew better than to try and get the covers back, and Ryouma himself was warm enough. He had no idea how long he dozed, but he was jarred to partial alertness when Ryouma woke up and stiffened with a start. Still half asleep, Momo responded with the protective reflex that had always run hand in hand with his competitive reflex where Ryouma was concerned.

"Sh. 'S okay," he mumbled, rubbing Ryouma's back soothingly.

Ryouma didn't relax in the least. Momo woke up a bit further, recalling that he had reason to be concerned for his friend, and tightened his hold.

"Ryouma," he murmured, "it's all right."

For a long moment Ryouma was so still Momo wondered if he was breathing, and then his head tilted a bit, hair brushing Momo's collar bone.

"Is it?" he asked. His tone was soft, hesitant. Momo had no idea what was behind that question; he was only sure that whatever it was struck deep. Ryouma usually covered any uncertainty with an easy sang froid, or else overwhelmed it with fiery determination. Was it all right? Was what all right? How could he answer?

One corner of his mind, slightly more awake than the others, perhaps, noted sharply that he could damn well answer the way he always answered when Echizen needed help.

Calmness settled over Momo's internal dithering. If he didn't know what had moved Ryouma to actually ask for reassurance, he did know that he would back his friend up, whatever it turned out to be. That was all he needed to know right now.

"Yes," he answered, with certainty. "It is."

Ryouma let go a tiny breath, and slowly, like stretching a sore muscle first thing at morning practice, relaxed. His back loosened; his head settled into the curve of Momo's shoulder; the hand Momo hadn't realized was clenched in the cotton over his side let go; a faint shiver completed the progression, and Ryouma lay quiet against him.

Now it was Momo who had the urge to hold his breath, rather than break the moment. The warmth of Ryouma's trust, more than even he had ever been given before, stole over him like the sunlight creeping across the bed. He gathered Ryouma closer, and pressed his lips silently to the morning-ruffled hair. Ryouma settled himself a bit more comfortably, with a very faint sigh, and they were still. The shrieks and crashes of his sister and her friends getting up and fed came and went with only the smallest twitch from Ryouma at the especially impressive bangs.

At last, though, Ryouma stirred, and Momo loosened his hold. He propped his head up on one hand as Ryouma flopped over onto his back and looked up at him. Ryouma's expression was... odd. Almost wistful. Almost scared. Maybe a little sad and a little hopeful. Momo had to quash a strong urge to catch Ryouma back into his arms and not let go. Normally, Ryouma could be counted on to whap him over the head for doing any such thing. Momo wasn't sure what would happen if he did it this morning.

Ryouma lifted a hand and laid it on Momo's chest, light and tentative. Momo had to close his eyes for a second, before he covered Ryouma's hand with his own. A smile lightened Ryouma's eyes. Momo wondered, not for the first time, whether Ryouma had started wearing his beloved cap when he played in order to hide those expressive eyes that showed every thought and feeling unless he was very careful.

"Good morning, Momo," Ryouma said, quietly. Momo ran his fingers through Ryouma's hair, and, for once, Ryouma accepted the gesture.

"Good morning, Ryouma," Momo answered.

End

Ripple

The day after the events of "Twist", Ryouma tries to sort out his thoughts. Drama With Slight Romance, I-3

Ryouma scrunched down in his bath until the water was at his nose and contemplated the surface of it.

It had been a strange weekend. First the game with Whatshisname, which had set him off balance pretty badly, and then the talk with Momo, and then this morning... Every time he had to deal with Momo's sister he was glader than ever that Nanako was so much older than he was. And not his sister. And not crazy. Maybe girls didn't become sane until they grew up.

The day itself had been better. He and Momo had wandered around, and a bit of luck had come his way when they stumbled over a few of Fudoumine. He'd had a pretty decent game against Ibu. And another against Kamio, once he'd managed to actually get Kamio's attention off of his staring contest with Momo. He wasn't one hundred percent sure they had thought it was a good game; they'd been too out of breath to say.

Momo probably thought Ryouma hadn't heard him thank them.

Ryouma lifted a hand out of the water and watched drops patter back down.

He knew Momo was a little worried about him, still. He'd insisted on walking Ryouma home, and it had been hard to miss the sidelong looks. He supposed Momo had a reason; Ryouma had kind of freaked out last night.

He leaned back with a sigh and poked at the thought that had been lying in the back of his mind ever since. Was his dad one of the crazy ones?

He didn't remember, now, when it had started. It might even have always been this way, that every effort of his, on the court, was met with the same words. Some variation on You'll never beat me like that; nope, a hundred years too early. And he knew what the real message in that taunt was: defeat me—if you really think you can. It was a dare. Pushing him down to make him push back harder. There was a name for that, in English, Ryouma remembered reading it somewhere. Ah, yes. Reverse psychology.

Ryouma snorted and swished a hand, impatiently, though the water. What a load of crap. He also knew perfectly well why it worked, when he thought about it. It was the dishonesty that got him mad. The way that never-changing formula pretended that any progress Ryouma might be making was negligible, invisible. Ryouma was capable of tracking his own progress, and he knew he was starting to close in. And he was bound and determined, and had been for years, to beat his dad completely enough that he couldn't brush it off or say it was a fluke, that he would be forced to acknowledge the truth!

Ryouma frowned at the water. What a stupid reason to play tennis.

He pushed a wave of water away from him, watched it rebound, caught a little bit of it and pushed it back again. It wasn't a motive that would ever open up the game to him, a fact that pissed him off more the better he understood it. He'd been going stale before he came to Seigaku. He could see that, now. He hadn't been playing tennis, he'd been pursuing a vendetta. Like that would get him anywhere! What had his dad been thinking, anyway? He was just damn lucky that Ryouma really did like this game he had a talent for and had found people to remind him of that, because otherwise Ryouma would have been stuck right there in the same place, without being able to move forward or to win or do anything but keep trashing the small fry and never understanding why he couldn't reach any further, watching his dad lose interest and...

He slapped a hand down, splashing water up, violently, and sucked in a long breath. It was all right. It hadn't happened. He'd come to Seigaku, and found good people to play against and with, and Tezuka-buchou had seen and understood. Ryouma folded his arms on the edge of the bath and rested his head on them. He had a sudden wish to be with his captain. Not even to play a game, necessarily; just being around Tezuka calmed him down, made everything seem a little clearer, a little cleaner. He didn't always say out loud what the point of his orders was, but his challenges to Ryouma, and his wish for Ryouma, was always clear and straightforward, and Ryouma could trust that the point was always the benefit of the team and its players. He could trust that Tezuka-buchou's praise or cautions or reprimands actually meant something.

It would be nice if he could trust his dad like that.

But his dad didn't think like Tezuka-buchou. His dad had never shown him that the game could be more than just beating some particular opponent, that there was a core to it, a spirit to it that went beyond that. Maybe his dad couldn't show him. Ryouma supposed he might give his dad the benefit of the doubt and figure that his dad knew that too—that it was why he had sent Ryouma to Seigaku. But he didn't know if he wanted to give his dad the benefit of anything, just now. After a day of simmering, the thought that had hit him hardest, last night, was starting to take on a shape Ryouma could grasp, and the edges on it were sharp.

To taunt and dare, to make himself into the enemy, to drive with insults... Ryouma could see a teacher doing that. Not a nice teacher, maybe not a good teacher, at least Ryouma had never seen that work too well when Mr. Cotswold or Yoshida-sensei did it, but a teacher that the student had come to and said 'I want to learn this thing you know'. There was a... a deal made, there, on both sides, and everyone more or less knew what they were getting into.

A teacher, maybe. But a father?

Ryouma twisted against the edge on that thought. It cut.

Did he really have a father anymore? Did his dad even see Ryouma as his son, anymore, or just as the one who might, possibly, finally, give him a real game? A real challenge. Even a real defeat. The better he played, the worse it seemed to get. Oh, yeah, his dad got all bright-eyed, but it didn't feel like that was because he was proud of Ryouma. It felt like the eagerness Ryouma saw in his opponents. And from them it felt right; that was what they were to each other. But a father? That wasn't how Kachirou's dad looked at his son, when they grinned and gave each other a thumbs up. It was a lot closer to how Akutsu had looked at Ryouma the first time they played.

That, that was the thought that had kept him huddled against Momo this morning.

Ryouma blinked down at the water in front of his nose. Weird. Remembering this morning was actually making him feel a little better. Like he could breathe again. Like...

Like someone was holding him.

Ryouma snorted a laugh. If he ever admitted to Momo that his protective streak made Ryouma feel better, he'd be doomed. Probably for life. Momo would never again believe Ryouma was serious when he grumbled or swatted Momo away. Still, he admitted to himself, turning over to stare up at the ceiling, it had felt... nice that Momo took the trouble to comfort him.

If Momo stopped believing Ryouma was serious, Ryouma supposed, as he climbed out of the bath, he could deal with that. Heck, maybe he could even deal with the rest of it. Maybe.

End

Fence

A typical day in the life of Ryouma and Momo, with a few extra revelations on Momo's part. Karupin gets in on the action. Drama With Getting-There Romance, I-4

Momo tried not to take too much enjoyment in Ryouma's paperwork griefs. He figured a little was due him, though, and couldn't help grinning just a bit as he waited for Ryouma at the corner where their ways home came together. His approaching friend looked distracted.

"So," Momo said, as he pushed off from the wall and swung into step with Ryouma, "decided yet?"

"Mm," Ryouma answered without looking up, "for everyone but Rokkaku and Hyoutei. You never know where Aoi's going to show up."

"Oh, come on, that's the easy one," Momo scoffed.

Ryouma gave him an eloquent Oh, really? look from the corner of his eye.

"Has he gotten any less bouncy this year?" Momo asked.

"Nope," Ryouma said, glumly.

"And he's always impatient to play. Kind of like another team captain I could mention but won't."

Ryouma glared.

"So he'll probably put himself in Singles Two or Three to make sure he gets a chance," Momo finished. "You know," he added, thoughtfully, "I bet if you called him and offered to meet him in one of those slots, he'd adjust his own lineup to make it work."

Ryouma blinked, and a wicked smile spread over his face. "Maybe I won't mention that part to Ryuuzaki-sensei," he murmured.

"Ah, you're getting sneaky," Momo clapped him on the shoulder. "Fuji-senpai would be proud. Now, what's up with Hyoutei?"

Ryouma held the gate to his house open. "They're a pain, like always," he grumbled.

"Can't be more of a pain than Hiyoshi was, last year," Momo declared, kicking off his shoes.

Ryouma paused on the stairs to consider that. "Maybe. Come on, though, I'll show you." In his room, he dug out several sheets of paper and spread them on the floor. Momo settled behind him, looking over his shoulder.

"This year's captain," Ryouma tapped the name Fukuzawa, "he's a lot better than Hiyoshi was at talking their coach into new ideas. He took a few tricks from Fudoumine, and sometimes puts the best players in early. And just about everyone knows we only have one strong doubles team. Again. Even if Kachirou and I play doubles, that's only two wins and leaves singles completely open."

"Yeah, better assume one win and one loss in doubles," Momo put in, resting his chin on Ryouma's shoulder. "They should be short on good doubles, too, this year."

"Which means," Ryouma continued, "that Fukuzawa is likely to come in early, which means I should too. But what if he second guesses me? If I take Singles Three while he stays with One, I don't think Kachirou will be able to handle him, and they'll have three wins in the end. I hate this," he sighed, leaning back against Momo with a faint thump.

"Oh, yeah," Momo ruffled his hair, "you thought it was a lot more interesting when it was my job, and you could just poke your nose in for the fun of it."

Ryouma growled and elbowed him.

"I bet you were the sort of kid who went on all the really scary rides at amusement parks just to hear how loud everyone else screamed," Momo teased.

"That," Ryouma observed, with trenchant accuracy, "would be Fuji-senpai. Besides, I think we only ever went to an amusement park once, when I was really little."

"And here I thought America had lots of them," Momo remarked, surprised. "What did you do, then?"

"What do you mean?" Ryouma asked, poking the end of his pen at the paperwork.

"With your family," Momo clarified.

Ryouma glanced over his shoulder, brows raised. "Played tennis."

Momo sat, staring straight ahead, as Ryouma crossed something out and scribbled a different name in. The absolute incomprehension in his friend's eyes hit him like a fist. He thought about his own family, about the annual trip to the beach; about his sister nagging until he took her to pet stores to play with the puppies; about his father and brother wearing almost identical pleading expressions while begging his mother to come watch a local motor cross match with them; about his mother's soft laugh the first time she played his favorite computer game with him, after days of wheedling on his part, and beat his score. And then he thought of not having any of that happen—of having all of it swallowed by tennis. Tennis the way he had seen Ryouma and his father play it, taunting and needling and provoking.

Absolute fury boiled up in him, twisting his stomach and tugging at his mouth with a snarl.

Ryouma paused in his shuffling of names, and looked around at him. "Momo?" he asked, sounding surprised.

Momo wrapped both arms around his friend, and rested his forehead against Ryouma's shoulder, hiding his expression. "Nothing. It's nothing," he said, quietly.

After a moment, Ryouma leaned back into his hold, puzzled, Momo thought, but willing to offer silent comfort for whatever was wrong. The irony was almost enough to start him laughing. He tightened his arms, instead, thankful that, for whatever reason, Ryouma had decided it was all right for Momo to hold him.

A fuzzy touch on his ear startled him into looking up. Karupin had come in and was standing with one paw on Ryouma's shoulder, batting at Momo with the other. He meowed in a you're taking up my space kind of way.

"What if I don't want to move, yet?" Momo argued.

Karupin batted, insistently, at his cheek.

"No," Momo said, definitely.

Karupin paused, considered him, and then, with no warning at all, whapped him in the jaw with a remarkably strong, if furry, right hook. Momo jerked back.

"Ryouma," he said, indignantly, "your cat just punched me!"

The announcement was probably redundant, seeing as Ryouma was doubled over with laughter. Recovering himself, he gathered Karupin up in his arms and, before Momo could protest this favoritism, turned to lean against Momo's chest, bracing Karupin against them both.

"It's okay, Karupin," Ryouma assured his cat. "You don't have to worry about Momo."

"Yeah, see?" Momo seconded, cautiously putting an arm around both of them. "I'm not trying to steal him, I just want to share him. Didn't your mother ever teach you it's good to share?"

Karupin managed to give him a very skeptical look for something with such a round, fuzzy face, before he snuggled against Ryouma to be petted. Momo suppressed some uncomplimentary remarks. That furball was the only living creature he had ever seen Ryouma look at with open tenderness, and Momo had a good idea of who would lose if it came to a choice between the cat and himself. It was, in fact, utterly typical that Ryouma should let himself practically cuddle with Momo, not for Momo's benefit, but for his cat's.

Recalling what he had been thinking about before Karupin interrupted, Momo suddenly had a much better idea why that might be, and looked with less disfavor on the purring menace in Ryouma's arms. That cat was probably the sole member of his family Ryouma loved and trusted without reservation. Karupin might just be the main reason Ryouma had even been capable of trusting enough to becoming a part of the Seigaku team, much less willing to do so. Momo sighed and leaned his cheek against the top of Ryouma's head, and scratched behind Karupin's ears himself. Carefully.

When he left, that day, he gave Karupin a serious look. "Take care of him, okay?" he said, nodding toward Ryouma.

Ryouma gave him a startled look, and Karupin meowed in a tone Momo translated to Teach your granny to suck eggs, kid. Momo grinned and let himself out.

Away from them, though, Momo found his thoughts circling around and around the realization about Ryouma's family life that had struck him, and by the time he arrived at practice the next morning he felt like there was a rut worn in his brain. It didn't help his temper any. He finally resorted to a tactic he didn't need very often, and took himself off to one side to practice his swings. He tossed each ball up, focused on where it needed to go, and imagined Echizen Nanjirou standing there.

He didn't actually realize that his balls were breaking through the fence until Ryuuzaki-sensei yelled at him.

"Honestly!" she finished her harangue. "What were you thinking? Go get a drink and calm down!"

Catching his breath on one of the benches, Momo was aware of movement in his direction. A quick glance showed it to be Oishi-senpai, and Momo winced. Now, how was he going to explain himself? Oishi-senpai was never intrusive, but he was hard to hold things back from. Another odd note caught his eye, though. Tezuka-san had crossed, quickly, to have a word with the team's captain, and then turned and gestured Oishi-senpai back. Momo bit his lip and looked at the ground.

"That exercise will work better if there's actually someone there to return the ball," Tezuka-san said, beside him.

Momo blinked up at the vice-captain for a moment before cosmic irony overcame his surprise at not being dressed down. He snorted a laugh and scrubbed a hand over his face.

"I couldn't do it if it were you standing there, though," he said, a little tired, glancing away. "You're the one who changed things for him."

Tezuka-san looked at him for a long moment, and then his eyes narrowed. "I see," he said, quietly. He touched Momo's shoulder.

"Come practice while thinking about something else then," he ordered. "Like winning."

Momo looked up with a grateful smile. His favorite challenge, for all he doubted there was much chance of it ever happening. There was nothing better to get his mind off a problem. "Yes, Tezuka-senpai," he agreed.

Really, he reflected, as he followed Tezuka-san to an empty court, it was no surprise Ryouma had found Tezuka-san's cool approach more reassuring than intimidating. After his father, it must have been a relief to deal with someone so straightforward and consistent, even if what he consistently was was demanding. Tezuka-san challenged his people, always, but he also, somehow, and Momo had never quite figured out how, convinced them of his implicit belief that they would succeed. It was contagious. And it spread to other parts of a person's life, too. Momo wasn't sure when he had decided that keeping a snippy, independent-minded brat like Echizen Ryouma well and safe was one of his challenges, but there it was. And if it had become still more personal than that, it just made the challenge all the more exciting.

"Ready?" Tezuka-san called.

Momo grinned.

"Any time!"

End

Puzzle

The Clue Trout descends upon Ryouma. Drama Finally Romance with Slight Porn, I-3

- Associated fanart: Momo and Ryouma during a fluffy moment, by Hikariblue.

"You sure you don't want to get that looked at?"

Ryouma rolled his eyes. If one more person asked him that, they were going to eat a tennis ball. "Yes, I'm sure," he sighed. "I banged my funny bone, that's all. You'd think I'd been in a traffic accident or something."

Momo looked stern, which almost made Ryouma smile. A year and a half ago, Momo would never have been able to pull the expression off. Ryouma was forming the theory that you could only learn it by being responsible for people two years younger who kept doing stupid things. Kachirou was very good at it, though too good natured to hold it for long.

"Don't give me that," Momo growled, "you know perfectly well it's a nerve cluster; of course everyone's worried."

"Inui-senpai said there was nothing to worry about as long as my grip kept coming back steadily," Ryouma argued, deciding that if he ever met the person who had injured Tezuka-buchou and thus been the ultimate cause of all this mother henning, they would regret it very deeply. "It has been. You're getting as bad as Oishi-senpai."

That succeeded in distracting Momo, and Ryouma did smile at the indignant expression on his friend's face. "You coming in?" he asked, opening his gate.

"For a while," Momo agreed, smiling back a little ruefully, which Ryouma took to mean he would let the subject be changed.

About time.

They were waylaid, however, by his dad's hail from the court.

"About time you got back! Come and play some real tennis."

Ryouma leaned against the porch, trying to decide whether it would be more trouble to play with a lingering handicap or to refuse and deal with the ragging. He didn't have any particular interest in telling his dad about today's little slip at practice, which argued against playing, but... He blinked as Momo stepped past him.

"Well, now, Ryouma's had a long day. If you want a game, why don't you play me?" It was less a request than a demand, and Ryouma's brows went up at the hard light in his friend's eyes.

His dad eyed Momo up and down, and the little smile that said Momentary entertainment, how nice crossed his face. "Why not," he murmured, and beckoned Momo onto the court.

Ryouma frowned as he watched them play. They were both acting strangely. His dad wasn't being quite his fully annoying self, and Momo was...

Momo was angry.

Not angry in the snarling-with-Kaidou-senpai sort of way, which wasn't really angry, though Ryouma couldn't say just what it was. Not angry the way he got at an opponent who ticked him off and who he wanted to beat. This was colder. His eyes were burning, but it was like the fire of the cutting torch in the art class studio—so focused down that the heat became sharpness. Ryouma had watched Momo play for years, and he knew Momo played hot; Momo liked it that way. He didn't stop to think, unless he was playing doubles and had to take a partner into account. He saw and he acted. It was the same way Ryouma had seen him do his math homework: writing down the answer immediately, and then going back to fill in the steps that led to it, because they were required.

This time, Momo was thinking. Watching, and testing, and watching again. He wasn't playing for the score, Ryouma realized, slowly. He was playing to find something out about his opponent.

Ryouma was confused. What could Momo want to know about his dad, that could make him this mad? Momo's eyes still had that bright glitter in them when the match ended. Ryouma didn't think he'd ever seen quite that look before.

"So," his dad asked, casually, "find what you want?"

Ryouma snorted to himself, confusion momentarily overcome by familiar exasperation. Of course his dad had spotted it.

"Not especially," Momo answered, evenly.

"Hm."

Ryouma sighed as his dad smiled, inscrutably, and strolled inside. He looked up at Momo, who had come to stand beside him.

"What was that all about?"

Momo shrugged. "You didn't want to mention that," he gestured at Ryouma's arm.

"Yes," Ryouma agreed, and waited. Momo's mouth quirked.

"And I didn't think you needed to deal with it today," he added, and quickly held up a hand. "I know, I know, overprotective mother hen." He made a mock tragic face. "Even after all this time you don't appreciate your senpai. Ah, I'm used to it."

Ryouma, caught between laughing and glowering, folded his arms and looked aside.

Thus, he was surprised when Momo's hand came up to cup the side of his face. He looked back around, eyes wide. He'd long since given up on enforcing any idea of personal space with Momo, but this was a little unusual.

"You should have someone you can actually trust, every now and then, that's all," Momo said. His mouth tugged up at one corner. "Someone who can talk, instead of meow."

And then the oddness of the moment seemed to reach Momo, too, and he dropped his hand and shouldered his bag.

"See you tomorrow," he told Ryouma, and made for the gate, leaving Ryouma staring after him and still wondering what that was all about.

Ryouma was still wondering at club practice the next day, and stalked around the courts with only half his attention on his team. When his Singles Three player nearly nailed him in the back with a wild ball he didn't even bother to glare.

"You need to retape your grip, Ougurou," he said, absently, swatting the ball back.

"Yes. Um. I'll do that now," Ougurou said, sidling away before Ryouma could change his mind.

And normally Ryouma would have called him out to demonstrate in action just how the problem could harm Ougurou's game. But he had other things on his mind today, and Kachirou seemed willing to take up the slack if the way Ougurou was shuffling in face of his lecture was any indication.

What had that been all about? It wasn't that he wasn't used to Momo touching him; in fact, if he were quite honest with himself he'd started to invite it. The contact was comfortable, and Momo was a good friend, after all. But that had been more than just friendly.

Ryouma stopped, and stared blankly through the fence. Just friendly. What was just friendly? What wasn't?

He started walking again, more slowly. He knew he didn't necessarily have the most normal view of these things. Apart from his dad's occasional jokes about wanting to grope his mom for old time's sake, at which point she offered to smack him one for old time's sake too, he didn't see any examples of anything from them. With his mom so busy with her job and the house, they didn't really spend that much time together, he guessed. And if Nanako was dating anyone, she didn't seem to have any intention of letting her aunt and uncle, or her cousin, know about it.

Not that he could blame her.

"Sagara, Tsunan, get back to work on your new formation," he directed his gossiping Doubles One pair, passing quietly behind them. Another day he might have been somewhat more amused that they jumped half a meter before stammering out affirmatives.

Maybe he should ask someone's advice on this. Except that the person he would normally ask about personal things was Momo. Besides, he didn't like having to ask.

He knew that he took his desire for self sufficiency from his mother; Nanako had commented on it before. Maybe he could take some methods from her, also. She was good at logic. So, logically, how to answer this question?

If his parents weren't any help, maybe he could compare the situation to someone else. Someone a little more average. So, who did he know who was more than friends?

Well, there was always Ann and Sakuno. Yeah, they would be a good comparison; Ann had a protective streak wider than Momo's. Ryouma figured it was probably genetic. How did she act around Sakuno?

She was almost always in contact with her, for one thing. A hand on her wrist, shoulders brushing, leaning against Sakuno, a hand around her waist. The more of those gestures Ryouma tallied up, the more unnerved he felt. That was the way Momo was around him, all right. And he hadn't noticed. Why hadn't he noticed?

Whether it was intuition or logic, the answer sprang up in his mind and rooted his feet to the ground. He hadn't noticed because it hadn't felt any different. He had always been comfortable around Momo, from the first day they met and he recognized the gleam of challenge in the eyes of the second year who had interfered to protect his kouhai.

Which raised the interesting question, had Momo noticed?

He could see about answering that later, Ryouma decided, briskly. Right now, he had things to be doing. Mind relieved for the moment, he called his team in and set them playing two on one, in rotation. The expressions of relief rather startled him, given how grueling this exercise got before too long, and he looked a question at Kachirou, who was smothering a laugh.

"They've been worried all day that you were distracted by thinking up something more, um, interesting for them," his vice-captain explained.

"Hm. I'll have something for tomorrow, then," Ryouma said, with a wicked smile. "Wouldn't do to let everyone down."

Kachirou lost the fight with his laughter, shaking his head.

Figuring out whether Momo had noticed proved more difficult than Ryouma had expected. Not because Momo was particularly difficult to read, but because Ryouma kept getting distracted. When Momo leaned against him, or sat behind him, or wrapped an arm around his shoulders, Ryouma kept forgetting to watch Momo because, now that he was noticing it, he was noticing how nice it felt.

And it did feel very nice. Having someone close to him, someone he could relax with because he knew for a fact Momo didn't mean him any harm, felt... warm.

In fact, he was starting to have to resist the urge to press closer, to invite Momo to hold him tighter.

At last, after a particularly unproductive day of staring at his History homework while his thoughts tripped over each other trying to observe Momo watching him, Ryouma decided, quite firmly and rationally he thought, that enough was enough. Logic was great, but Ryouma had known for a long time that instinct and action often had the edge. He clapped his book shut and tossed it off to one side.

Beside him, Momo looked up. "Homework that frustrating?" he asked with a grin.

"Actually, no," Ryouma declared. "Something else is, though."

And, as Momo was opening his mouth, probably to ask what, Ryouma turned and slung a leg over Momo's, settling comfortably astride his lap. Momo's mouth stayed open.

"Ah, Ryouma?" he managed, after a moment.

Ryouma spread his hands against Momo's chest, and felt his sudden intake of breath, watched his eyes widen. Momo's hands didn't seem to share the surprise, though, and closed firmly at Ryouma's waist. Mmm, yes; that was nice. Ryouma smiled. He was now prepared to bet that Momo, or at least the part of him in control of his hands, had been perfectly aware of how their touching had changed. Which raised yet another question.

"So, what's been taking you so long?" he asked.

Momo opened his mouth, closed it again, and growled. When he saw Ryouma's grin, he, too, seemed to decide that action was the best course, because he slid his hands up Ryouma's back, and pulled Ryouma against him, and caught Ryouma's mouth with his. Ryouma didn't make it easy for him; he was laughing. Momo persisted, though, tracing the curve of Ryouma's lips with his tongue, kissing the corner of his smile. And Ryouma finally sighed, and leaned against him, and kissed back.

The feeling of Momo's arms this tight around him, and Momo's tongue playing tag with his, was a lot more than just warm.

Momo drew back a bit. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?" he murmured against Ryouma's mouth.

"Very sure," Ryouma told him, repressively, and rocked forward to kiss him again.

Oh.

A lot more.

If the groan that tangled with his in the middle of their kiss hadn't been enough to tell him, he could feel, now, that Momo was enjoying this as much as he was. Experimentally, Ryouma shifted, rocking their hips together again. Heat tingled through him, and he heard a soft, wordless sound in his own throat. Momo leaned his head back against the bed behind him, but if he meant to catch his breath it backfired. Ryouma took the opportunity to taste the skin under Momo's jaw, and they both gasped as their bodies pressed flush together.

Ryouma's hands moved down Momo's body, almost involuntarily, because he wanted more. More contact. And clothes were very much in the way, though not for long. Momo bit back a moan as Ryouma's fingers brushed against his skin, curled around his cock. Ryouma rather liked that sound. He liked it more when he felt Momo's fingers shaking just a little as he loosened Ryouma's pants and slid a hand inside.

And then Ryouma kissed Momo again, hard, to muffle his own harsh moan. Shivers coursed through him, trembling out from Momo's touch. Their fingers tangled together as Ryouma pressed closer, feeling Momo's other hand smoothing up and down his back, and he wound his own free arm around Momo's shoulders to brace himself against the flickering, shuddering heat.

"Ryouma," Momo whispered, and Ryouma buried his head against Momo's shoulder, pressing his lips against the skin of Momo's neck, biting down with the first surge of pleasure that wrung his entire body. He shuddered, hearing Momo's sharp gasp, riding the fire that twisted through him again and again. It was too much, in the end, and he heard his breath sob through his chest as the fire threw him loose, falling...

But he was leaning against Momo, and Momo was holding him. He couldn't be falling. The hot pleasure let him back down into warmth that curled around him, gently. Both of them stayed where they were, and Ryouma listened to Momo's breath calm against his ear. Their fingers were still tangled together, and, while messy, there was something oddly comforting about the feeling.

At last, Momo stirred, shifting to fish in his pocket and produce a packet of tissues. Ryouma stifled a laugh at the practicality, and didn't look up as they cleaned themselves off.

Momo's fingers brushed over his hair. "You all right?" he asked, quietly.

"Of course," Ryouma told him, raising his head to look Momo in the eye.

Those eyes were just a little soft, and lit with a smile at Ryouma's answer. Ryouma bent his head back down to Momo's shoulder to hide what he was fairly sure was a blush (of all things!), and locked his arms around Momo.

"Of course I'm all right," he said, again, though a smile.

Momo's fingers rubbed up and down his neck. "Good."

It was possible, not likely but possible, that Ryouma was being paranoid. He was nearly positive, however, that Inui-senpai had been spending more time than usual watching him at unofficial practice, today. It was starting to make him a bit twitchy. He edged around the other side of Momo on the pretext of getting his water bottle, and leaned briefly against Momo's shoulder for reassurance.

A quick glance showed Inui-senpai scribbling furiously.

"Momo-senpai, has Inui-senpai had a new project going or something?" Ryouma asked, cautiously.

"Not that he's mentioned," Momo answered, a bit uneasily.

The soft laugh behind them was not reassuring, despite its warmth, and Ryouma turned to give Fuji-senpai a wary look. While Fuji was an excellent source of protection from everything from too-loud teammates to malicious opponents, and one Ryouma was perfectly willing to take advantage of, the flip side was that Fuji tended to regard protectees as his personal source of amusement.

He certainly seemed amused by something, today.

"It's just Inui's way of wishing you well," Fuji-senpai told him. "Come play a set with me, Echizen."

Ryouma hefted his racquet and headed back to the court. He wasn't going to ask. It just wasn't worth the trouble, and answers usually presented themselves sooner or later if he just let it ride. Sometimes his subconscious just needed time to decide what Fuji-senpai was talking about. They were, in fact, in the fifth game before Ryouma's backbrain piped up with a suggestion of what Fuji-senpai's rather cryptic remark might have implied. His swing went wild, and he nearly tripped over his own foot before slamming to a halt and staring across the net at his senpai's blandly inquiring look.

It showed? And Inui-senpai was recording this in one of his damned notebooks?

Ryouma shot a blistering glare at Inui-senpai, who smiled cheerfully back. He growled very quietly, and directed an even more searing look back at Fuji. Fuji-senpai wasn't even attempting to look innocent, any more, and his eyes were laughing.

Before Ryouma could attempt bodily harm against his grinning seniors, however, Tezuka-buchou turned from coaching Momo through a speed exercise and narrowed his eyes at them.

"Fuji. Inui." An admonition to knock it off and get back to work hung, unspoken, after their names, and, with a last chuckle, Inui tucked away his notebook and Fuji backed off to receive Ryouma's next serve. "Echizen, mind your concentration," Tezuka-buchou added.

Ryouma ground out an acknowledgement, and stalked back to serve. He was going to kill them both, he really was. Later, because Tezuka-buchou had a point; nothing interrupted the game, not even senpai who were getting far too much amusement out of Ryouma's... relationship with Momo. At least, he grumbled to himself, there was still a handful of months to go before they would be on the same campus again. He could hope they wouldn't be smirking quite so hard by then.

When practice ended, though, and Fuji-senpai's hand fell on his shoulder, Ryouma's mistrustful glance met an unusually soft smile. Ryouma looked aside, stepping firmly on the urge to squirm, and Fuji-senpai squeezed his shoulder, companionably, and let him go. None of them were smirking as Momo draped an arm over his shoulders.

"Come on, Ryouma, let's get something to eat; I'm starved!"

"You're always starved, Momo-senpai," Ryouma pointed out, going along easily.

The looks that followed them, as they left, might even have had an edge of affection.

All right, maybe he wouldn't actually kill them.

End

Confluence

Mild chaos and vast snarkiness as many paths cross at a music store. Drama With Romance, I-3

Tezuka

Kunimitsu had some misgivings about accompanying Keigo to a music store. Particularly one this large. Music was, after all, one of Keigo's enthusiasms. He could only hope Keigo had entertained the other people in the train car more than he had alarmed them, holding forth as energetically as he had on the antecedents of jazz. He hesitated to think what would happen if they found a knowledgeable clerk inside for Keigo to chat with.

Blackmail was, however, blackmail, and Keigo had threatened to select things for Kunimitsu's collection if he didn't come along to make his own choices.

"So," Keigo said, looking around with a gleam of avarice in his eye, "where shall we start?"

"Your show," Kunimitsu told him, evenly, "at least until it comes to my collection. Wherever you like."

Keigo looked to be in a mischievous mood, to judge by the look of Well, of course that he flashed Kunimitsu before leading the way through the racks. After a brief stopover in Pop they finally fetched up at the border of Jazz and Classical.

"Mm. Akiko Yano, Nunokawa Toshiki, Raphael Lima, Ishmael Reed, now there's one I didn't expect, even at this store. And why," Keigo added in a long-suffering tone, "can't anyone ever catalogue Gershwin properly?"

"Well," came a light voice behind them, "surely not everyone can be blessed with your incisively discerning taste, Atobe."

Kunimitsu turned to see Fuji, Tachibana beside him, smiling with the kind of earnest sincerity that could only be fake. He glanced aside to see how his companion was taking it. Keigo studied the rack in front of him with a thoughtful look for a moment before one side of his mouth twitched up. He wrapped arrogant entitlement around him like a robe and turned as well.

"Of course," he agreed, carelessly, stance suddenly a pose for admiring crowds.

Kunimitsu caught Tachibana's eye, full of amused sympathy, and shrugged an eyebrow. Still, it might be a good idea to redirect the two before innocent bystanders happened along and entered the line of fire.

"Similar taste in music, too?" he mused to no one in particular. Fuji's smile didn't flicker, but Keigo gave him a cool look.

"Don't be ridiculous. You can't seriously be suggesting that Fuji's tastes run to Zig Noda." He had drawn a breath to continue when Fuji's slightly frozen expression stopped him.

"Kose Kikuchi," Fuji admitted, after a moment.

They turned as one to glare daggers at Kunimitsu, who refrained from responding. Tachibana had a hand over his mouth.

"Similar instruments," Keigo declared, "do not equate to similar styles."

"Quite so," Fuji agreed, stepping toward a different rack. "And it was Roy Hargrove that I particularly hoped to find today."

"The latest album?" Keigo asked, sharply, discarding his front in face of a possible threat to his program of acquisition. "I hope there are two copies, then, I'd hate for you to be disappointed, Fuji."

Of course, Kunimitsu reflected, as Keigo strode after Fuji, his genuine behavior didn't always differ that markedly from his public act. Particularly when one of his enthusiasms was involved. Tachibana leaned against the rack beside him, looking after the other two.

"Shuusuke is still annoyed with you over that particular observation," he noted.

"I'm not surprised," Kunimitsu said. "Keigo is, a bit, too." Tachibana gave him an oblique look.

"If you knew it would irritate them, why did you say it?" he asked. Kunimitsu folded his arms.

"Better they be annoyed with me than each other. Imagine the consequences."

Tachibana rubbed his fingers over his forehead, suddenly looking a little pinched. "I'd really rather not."

Kunimitsu looked at him sharply, questioning. After a moment Tachibana shook his head.

"It's more his story than mine," he said, quietly.

"Mm." Still, Kunimitsu had to respect the point. He had entrusted his friend to Tachibana years ago; it was good to know the trust wasn't misplaced.

Atobe

"Metheny is one step away from elevator music," Keigo snorted, as he and Fuji made their way back to their respective partners. "Next you'll be telling me you like Yanni."

"A narrative format keeps music from becoming meaninglessly abstract," Fuji countered. He paused long enough to give Tezuka something Keigo read as a vindicated look. Probably because they were disagreeing. Keigo considered weighing in with a smug smile of his own, but decided it would detract from the point.

"Well. Isn't this quite the congregation?" asked a new voice. Keigo glanced around to see Mizuki Hajime and Fuji's brother, Yuuta, come around the corner from the next aisle. Something in the quality of the silence beside him drew his gaze back to Fuji, and he almost took a step away.

The gleam of more or less good natured mockery in Fuji's eyes was swallowed into a flat, icy blue, slick as the side of a glacier. Any hint of a smile fell away like a dropped piece of paper. It wasn't an expression Keigo had ever seen on Fuji before, not even when he was playing for real. A quick look at Kunimitsu showed enough disturbance in the line of his mouth that Keigo didn't think he was familiar with this either. Tachibana had closed the distance between he and Fuji, and laid an unobtrusive hand on his back.

"Mizuki," Fuji stated, soft and flat.

Yuuta looked edgy, but Mizuki merely clasped his hands behind his back and smiled.

"Shuusuke. You're looking well."

Keigo was, a bit unwillingly, impressed with Mizuki's nerve. Or, possibly, his mental instability. A corner of Fuji's mouth twitched, as though he were suppressing a snarl. Keigo was wildly curious about exactly what Mizuki had really just said; subtext almost dripped from that simple greeting.

Tachibana's presence abruptly became more noticeable. Keigo, familiar with the ways a person could draw the eye, noted with interest that Tachibana did it without even shifting his body language much. He didn't step forward, or loom. He simply straightened, and his presence washed out from him, momentarily overwhelming even the intensity of Fuji's focus, pulling Mizuki's gaze away from his target. Tachibana gave him a hard look. After a moment, Mizuki inclined his head and opened one hand, palm up.

If Keigo had to guess, he would judge that Tachibana knew what was unspoken between Fuji and Mizuki, and had warned Mizuki to back off from the subject. And Mizuki, for whatever reason, had acknowledged Tachibana's right to interfere and accepted the warning.

And for some reason that had caused Yuuta to relax. Fuji too, after a stiff moment.

Keigo stifled a sigh, resigning himself to the hell of ungratified curiosity, because, even if Kunimitsu knew what was going on, Keigo knew he would never get the answer out of him.

"You two have fun, then," Yuuta said, running a hand through his hair, and sounding a bit rueful. "I'll just be over there." He slipped back into the other aisle, leaving both his brother and his lover looking after him, the one bemused and the other affectionate. Though it took Keigo a second look to place the expression on Mizuki's face, before it reverted to a more accustomed smirk as Mizuki turned back to Fuji.

"He doesn't like listening, when it gets to be about him," Mizuki told the elder Fuji. That, at least, made sense to Keigo. Everyone who had any contact with either of them knew that Yuuta was a bone of contention between Fuji and Mizuki.

That cold tension was singing through Fuji again, though not quite as intensely as before.

"So many assumptions, Shuusuke," Mizuki murmured. "Where would be the challenge in that?" Then he practically grinned. "So, what are you here for today?"

Keigo studied Mizuki. Unlike Fuji, Mizuki looked exactly like someone in the middle of a good game: breathing light and fast, eyes wide and brilliant. He'd long suspected that Mizuki liked to do things indirectly, and that his airs and affectations were as much a front as Keigo's own. He'd suspected that it was done for Mizuki's own amusement, and that he snickered up his sleeve at everyone who took the flouncing and strutting seriously. This was the first time he'd really thought that tennis itself might only be a medium for Mizuki, not a goal.

Fuji waved a hand at the racks around them.

"We came for music," he answered, in the tone of someone dealing with an idiot. Mizuki merely smiled.

"Ah. Not the company of friends?" He paused, and Keigo sniffed at the melodrama. "But I suppose not, given the conversation as we arrived. Really, Shuusuke, anyone would think you were jealous." His glance flicked toward Kunimitsu.

Keigo was about to snort, because hadn't he and Fuji been over that already? But the shift in Fuji's weight, the tense and twist of his hands, stopped it. Keigo's eyes widened. There must be some truth in what Mizuki was saying, or Fuji wouldn't be reacting like this. From the way Kunimitsu stiffened beside him, he had caught some of it, too.

And that was enough for Keigo to interfere.

"Jealous?" he drawled. "You should check your facts, Mizuki. Envious, now, that's a bit more likely." It wasn't easy to lounge while standing upright, but that's what talent was for. Tachibana was looking at him with a mix of disbelief and amusement. Kunimitsu was completely poker faced, except for the angle of his brows, which communicated a certain resigned affection to Keigo. Fuji slanted a wry glance at him, appreciating the double edge of Keigo's intervention.

Mizuki looked at him with irritation before narrowing his eyes. When he spoke, it was to Fuji, every nuance of tone and stance saying that Keigo's interruption was insignificant.

"You have my sympathy, of course. It can't be easy to lose such a subtle bond to someone so greedy that he can't stand not to be the center of attention."

Now it was Keigo's turn to suppress a snarl, because he'd be damned before he gave Mizuki the satisfaction. Of course, the delivery annoyed him infinitely more than the accusation, which he'd heard with tiresome frequency. A part of him, however, had to appreciate the precision of the attack. It played perfectly off the manner of intervention he had chosen, and also seemed to touch on a genuine sore point with Fuji. He filed that last observation away for future consideration.

Yes, this was definitely Mizuki's true game.

Keigo's own response rallied though, just as for any other attack. That moment after he had spoken, a flash of surprise had shown in Mizuki's eyes, as if he'd forgotten Keigo's presence. Combined with his choice of counter, Keigo rather thought it indicated something about Mizuki. It was, after all, easiest to recognize a weakness one shared. He wondered whether Fuji had caught it.

Ah, yes, there was the smile. The dangerous one.

"Perhaps," Fuji answered in his most dismissive tone, and turned most of the way away from Mizuki to smile far more softly up at Tachibana. Keigo detected subtext again, since Tachibana didn't really seem the sort to typically touch his lover's cheek in public the way he was right now.

Mizuki certainly seemed to get it, as his expression turned extremely disgruntled for a moment. Keigo rather thought all four of them were waiting for a classic Mizuki temper tantrum. He, at least, was quite surprised when Mizuki merely nodded, eyes sharp, conceding the game if not the match.

"Another day, then, Shuusuke," he murmured, and turned to follow the path Yuuta had taken.

Tachibana looked after him, down at the still glinting eyes of his lover, and finally over at Kunimitsu.

"Tezuka," he said, wearily, "is it one of your requirements for team members, to be pathologically incapable of refusing a challenge?"

Keigo chuckled. "You're just noticing?"

Yuuta

Yuuta slipped around the end of the cd racks, and nearly ran over Tachibana Ann, who was peering through a gap at the confrontation on the other side.

"Oh, not you, too," he groaned. She gave him a stern eye.

"Your boyfriend is crazy," she declared. "What did he do to make Fuji-niisan look like that?"

"None of your business," Yuuta told her. "And Aniki is my brother, in case you've forgotten. You already have one, what do you want with another?"

"Unlike some people, I happen to like big brothers," she shot back. Yuuta sighed, and leaned against the rack opposite.

"Knock it off, Ann, you're not that stupid."

She had the grace to look slightly abashed, as she tucked her hair back. "Well, no," she admitted, in a less aggressive tone, "but there are really times, Yuuta." Yuuta glanced aside. Aniki knew that Yuuta loved him. That was all that mattered. Right?

"Aniki and Mizuki had... a fight. Kind of," he offered. "I think it's over now, though. Mostly." Feeling a little nervous at the number of qualifiers his unspoken pact of honesty with Ann forced him to add, he joined her in peering through the racks.

"Ooo, that was a good one," Ann said, admiringly, of Aniki's finishing move. Yuuta grinned down at her.

"You can be really vicious, you know that?"

"Good thing, too, otherwise how would I ever deal with you?"

They both sighed, and stepped back, as Mizuki let the challenge go.

"He was actually kind of restrained, today," Ann noted, thoughtfully. "I don't suppose he's been ill?"

"Like I said, things are better. Mostly." Yuuta shrugged, concealing his own surprise and relief. Ann looked over as Mizuki rounded the corner to their aisle.

"Ann-chan, how pleasant to see you here," Mizuki greeted her. Not in a terribly good mood, but not fuming either, Yuuta gauged, and relaxed a little more. Ann gave Mizuki a long look before turning to Yuuta.

"He's still a snake," she said, firmly. "But I suppose, sometimes, he's not completely horrible." And, with that, she took herself off toward the Rock section.

"Charming girl," Mizuki murmured. "Did you find everything you wanted?" Yuuta couldn't help smiling at that question, even though it made his boyfriend quirk a brow at him.

"Yes."

"Good," Mizuki said, softly, reaching for Yuuta's hand. Yuuta's breath caught as he raised it and placed a kiss in the palm, just the tip of his tongue flicking against Yuuta's skin.

"Mizuki!" Yuuta gasped, biting his lip and glancing quickly around to make sure no one was near. Mizuki gave him a dark look, from under his lashes, his promise to find out, later, exactly what Yuuta had been smiling over.

"Shall we go, then?"

Shishido

"So, who is this guy you're so excited to find?" Ryou asked, following in his partner's wake as Choutarou paced down the aisle, casting his eye over the racks.

"Chris Norman. He's a classical flautist, primarily, but he does a lot of other really neat ethnic music, and he favors a wooden flute. It has a much softer tone than metal. I've never found a store that carries any of his albums, before. The first time I heard him was actually in concert." Choutarou glanced back at him, with a small, bright smile in his eyes. "You'd like him."

Ryou was wondering just how to take that, when Choutarou stopped short. Only Ryou's quick reflexes kept him from barrelling into his partner.

"Atobe-buchou," Choutarou said, voice startled. Ryou stepped around him to see.

And then he almost stepped back behind Choutarou, because it wasn't just Atobe. It was also Tezuka, and Tachibana, and Fuji. The captain's club, plus head case. Every club seemed to have one of the latter, and he supposed Fuji was better than Ibu, but Ryou would have preferred Jirou. At least he was reasonably harmless.

"Ohtori. Shishido," Atobe replied. Ryou swore his eyes gleamed with amusement at Ryou's discomfort, for an instant, but you could never pin Atobe down about stuff like that. A moment later he was turning back to Choutarou. "Are you here for anything in particular today?" he asked. Choutarou smiled his faint, public smile.

"The store called just this morning to say that they had Chris Norman's first album in."

"Chris Norman." Atobe's eyes went distant for a moment. "He played with the Baltimore Consort, yes?"

The conversation that followed had very little meaning to Ryou; he liked listening to music, but the details never really stuck with him. So he split his attention between pride in his partner and irritation with Atobe. Both pleasant constants in his life. He could always be proud of Choutarou, of the poise that let him keep his countenance in just about any situation, including chatting with his captain under Tezuka's gimlet eye and Fuji's alarming smile, and of a determination to match Ryou's own, even when it was his own partner he was arguing with. Ryou still didn't think fraternization between teams could possibly be healthy, but Choutarou had gotten him to admit that it didn't seem to have affected Atobe and Tezuka's games. Just personally, Ryou thought that was the weirdest thing of all.

He hauled back his wandering thoughts as Atobe... dismissed Choutarou with a gracious nod. There were really times when Ryou wished they were still eight years old and he could get away with punching the smug bastard. Still, in his own annoying way he seemed fond of Choutarou, and that got him a lot of latitude in Ryou's book. He sauntered after his partner, exchanging companionable sneers with Atobe on the way past.

"Such a unique leadership style you have," he heard Fuji remark, genially, behind him. "Do you tell your team members to imagine your face on the tennis ball, or do you trust that it will happen naturally?"

Ryou barely managed not to choke, because he had gotten through more than one practice with exactly that tactic. He'd been right all along. Fuji Shuusuke was creepy.

"Whatever works," Atobe returned in a careless tone. Ryou could hear the smirk in it, and shot a glare over his shoulder.

"Remind me again why I'm friends with a jerk like you," he growled, running an impatient hand through his hair.

"Because I'm the only one who would put up with your dramatics," Atobe answered, promptly and loftily.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Ryou gave him a look rich with disbelief. "Nice talking to you, Mr. Pot, I'll just be getting back to my teacups, why don't I." He didn't bother waiting for an answer before turning his back and stalking off after Choutarou. Maybe he'd send Tezuka a sympathy card when Valentine's rolled around. When he caught up to his partner, Choutarou offered him one of the sample-this-disc headphone sets.

"This is it."

Ryou had to admit, it was pretty music. It almost sounded like a traditional flute, but not quite; and a lot bouncier.

"Now," Choutarou added, "imagine the man playing that, standing in front of a formal orchestra, wearing jeans and a bright red knit shirt and suspenders."

Ryou burst out laughing. "You're kidding!" When Choutarou shook his head, smile flashing, Ryou had to agree, "All right, yeah, I probably would like him."

Choutarou's pleased look nearly made him glow; it was one of the expressions Ryou was especially fond of. He was just considering whether it would injure his partner's reserve if Ryou ran his fingers through the unruly drift of silver hair, when familiar voices interrupted.

"I mean, really, you need a life, Ryouma."

"I have a life."

"Besides tennis. Come on, forget the old man and act like a normal person for just one afternoon!"

"And another after that," Echizen pointed out, inexorably, "and another after that, and..."

"Now you're getting the idea."

Momoshiro, Ryou identified the other speaker. No one else had quite the same congenially full-of-himself tone.

"Momoshiro, Echizen-kun," Choutarou greeted them, turning.

"Hey," Ryou seconded.

"Ohtori, Shishido-san, how's it going?" Momoshiro hailed them, easily. Ryou considered him one of the easier players to get along with off the court. The same couldn't be said for his companion, who just nodded—unusually cordial for Echizen. "Guess this place is attracting tennis players today, hm?" Momoshiro added, grinning.

"You have no idea," Ryou muttered.

"It's Tezuka-buchou and the Monkey King," Echizen observed, peering further down the aisle. "And Tachibana and Fuji-senpai, too."

Momoshiro winced a little. Ryou sympathized completely. Neither team had been prepared for finding out that their captains had hooked up. Even though Choutarou had said they should probably have expected it. Echizen's expression sharpened into an evil, little smile.

"We should say hello."

"Hey, Ryouma, hang on, we... you shouldn't... Ryouma!" Momoshiro's snatch at Echizen's collar missed, as the younger player made a bee-line for the greatest source of trouble available.

Typical.

"It can be troublesome to have a partner who's so impulsive, can't it?" Choutarou asked.

"You can say that again," Momoshiro muttered as he made after Echizen.

It took another minute to catch up with Ryou.

"Choutarou..." he said, drawing it out. His partner made wide eyes at him.

"Yes, Shishido-san?"

Ok, now he was sure, because Choutarou never called him that, anymore, unless he was teasing. He stepped into his partner, backing him against the rack.

"If we weren't in public," he said, softly, watching Choutarou's eyes darken.

"Then, what?" Choutarou murmured. Ryou laughed.

"Grab your stuff, and let's get out of here. And I'll show you."

If the cashier thought it was odd that the customers were grinning silently at each other, he didn't mention it.

Momoshiro

Momo was an easygoing sort of guy. Which was a good thing, considering. It really wasn't often, anymore, that he had the urge to whap Ryouma over the head with a racquet. It was much more effective to tickle him until he couldn't breathe; Ryouma was far too aware of his dignity for his own good.

But whenever Ryouma saw an opportunity to mouth off to their captain he took it, and then it was time for caring friends to restrain him. Possibly with a straitjacket, because he really had to be crazy to tease Tezuka-san like that. The fact that Momo had never once, in three and a half years, succeeded was beside the point. So was the incomprehensible fact that their captain generally let Ryouma get away with it, sort of. If there was any topic that would finally drive Tezuka-san over the edge, it had to be his... relationship with Atobe.

Momo caught up just as Ryouma offered their captain his best insolent smirk.

"Buchou. Out on a date?"

Tezuka-san looked down his nose at his youngest team member with no expression Momo could detect, but Ryouma's eyes gleamed like he'd gotten a rise out of him. Atobe, after one look, leaned against the racks, silently declaring that it was not his team and not his problem. Momo didn't know exactly how he managed to get that across just by leaning back and crossing his arms. That talent was one of the more irritating things about Atobe.

Maybe Ryouma thought so, too, because he turned to Atobe next. "Guess there's no hope for a game today, then. Too bad. Beating you would have been a good way to wrap up the weekend."

"I'm told it's good for people to have dreams," Atobe returned, condescending as ever. "Nice to see you have one that will last you so very long, Echizen."

Momo's cautious look at Tezuka-san showed that he didn't seem upset that Ryouma was ragging on his boyfriend. That was a relief. A sudden thought came to Momo, that Ryouma was challenging Atobe in front of their captain by way of asking permission. Ryouma never directly disobeyed the captain, but he was a master of avoiding being given orders that he didn't want to follow. Giving the captain a chance to object was as good as asking if it was all right.

Which meant, Momo realized, that Ryouma would take Tezuka-san's silence for assent, and keep needling Atobe until he got what he wanted. Ryouma was opening his mouth for the next shot when bright laughter cut across him.

"Ryouma-kun, you're almost as good at ticking people off as you are at playing tennis. And that's saying something."

Tachibana Ann appeared from around the corner, grinning when Ryouma raised a brow at her.

"Ann-chan," Momo exclaimed, relieved. "Are you here with your brother?" She grinned wider.

"Yes, but I thought he'd probably appreciate it if I got lost for a while." She flicked her eyes at her brother and Fuji-senpai, standing together. "I've been exploring on my own; this place has a ton of great stuff!" She waved a handful of plastic cases, and Momo leaned over her shoulder to see.

"Oh, hey, I didn't know Do As Infinity had another one out, what's on it?"

"Momo-senpai." Ryouma's voice was low, but it got Momo's attention. Ryouma didn't sound that sharp very often. When he turned, though, Ryouma just looked at him, sidelong. He seemed irritated. It took Momo a couple beats to figure out why, but when he did he smiled. Ryouma looked away again, not meeting anyone's eyes, now.

Momo came away from Ann, to stand behind Ryouma and lay a casual hand on his shoulder. "Ready to go bargain hunting?" he asked.

"Sure," Ryouma muttered, still not looking back at him.

Ann-chan had a knowing smile on as she turned to her brother. "Did you guys find everything you wanted, Onii-chan?"

Occupied with her questions, the other players returned Momo's goodbyes distractedly.

It wasn't, Momo thought, as they moved on, that Ryouma was possessive, exactly. And he wasn't anyone's definition of clingy. There were just people he didn't like Momo to pay too much attention to, and Tachibana Ann was one of them. The word boyfriend hadn't even been breathed between them, yet, except jokingly, but they didn't often need things spoken out loud.

Momo ruffled Ryouma's hair, and Ryouma swatted at his hand.

"Cut it out," he said, sounding sulky. But he turned his head enough to glance at Momo over his shoulder, eyes momentarily softer and mouth curving up at one corner. Momo smiled back, and let his hand rest, briefly, at the back of Ryouma's neck before falling.

There were easier things than words.

Tezuka

Kunimitsu slung his bag of CDs into a corner, in a rare moment of messiness, and almost collapsed back on his bed. He pressed a hand over his eyes, pushing his glasses up, hoping to alleviate the threatening headache. He'd really never thought a simple trip to the music store would be so harrowing. If he had, he'd have risked whatever musical white elephants Keigo might have chosen for him.

The bed dipped, and he felt a hand pluck his glasses off entirely. "Oh, come along, Kunimitsu, admit it. It was funny," Keigo chuckled.

Kunimitsu lifted his hand, the better to glare at his lover. Though he couldn't quite maintain it when Keigo's cool fingertips pressed across his forehead, driving the tense almost-pain away.

"You're worried about Fuji," Keigo observed. Kunimitsu didn't bother denying it.

"I never expected Mizuki, of all people, to..." he trailed off.

"Lock his interest?" Keigo suggested. "It could be worse."

Kunimitsu made an inquiring noise, closing his eyes as Keigo's thumbs stroked the arch of his brow bone.

"Mizuki himself doesn't seem completely unbalanced about the whole thing," Keigo told him, thoughtfully. "And I imagine Tachibana will keep Fuji from going too far."

Kunimitsu was worn out enough to accept Keigo's judgment over his own fears, though he made a mental note to see if he could get the whole story out of Fuji later. On the other hand, he revised his thought as Keigo's lips brushed across his, perhaps he wasn't as worn out as all that. And he really felt he deserved some consolation after a day like this.

He reached up to pull Keigo down against him.

End

Branch: *looks around, slightly hunted* Ok, so, we'll flip a coin to see which couple gets their smut first, right?

All Muses: *ignore her*

Momo: It'll be us, first, we're cuter.

Shishido: You wish! You give her way too much trouble, with all that non-verbal crap. It'll be us.

Atobe: Speaking of trouble, you have far too much back-story requirement, Shishido. Besides, she loves me best. *preens*

Ryouma: Exactly. You two old guys need a chance to get your breath back.

Branch: *sidles behind Fuji* I'm just glad you don't like me writing smut for you and Tachibana.

Fuji: *slow smile* Actually, I've been considering that.

Branch: *pales, backs away as all muses turn to look at her* Help! Muse Police! I'm being mugged!